Friday 26 February 2016

Introducing my Armchair Travel Collection on Google +



Have you ever come across something fascinating in the news that almost nudged you out of your seat and,









into a car,


  or onto a boat, 






to go and buy a ticket for an airplane
 and find out more about it?


Was the news post about something interesting, strange, unusual…mystical, spooky and haunted… weird, or historical?

Of the land, water or maybe sky?


You could be suffering from the travel bug or perhaps you are as curious as a cat but you can’t leave your life and jump into that car, boat or airplane.

Wanderlust (from the urbandictionary.com),
"is a deep uncontrollable desire to hit the road and travel, by whatever means desired, to explore and enjoy the world."

These days wanderlust can be both physical and digital. With a click of the mouse we can roam all over the world wide web. Exploring, learning, enjoying, gaining new knowledge and experiences. 

My new Google+ Armchair Travel Collection is one way to feed the wanderlust and curiosity about our big world of people, cultures and history.

During the next fortnight, I will be posting some fascinating news stories on G+, and then as time goes by, I will continue to build the collection.  Maybe one day, you or I will visit the places in the world that made the digital news.

From the comfort of your armchair, please join me during this coming week on G+. Let’s digitally travel to beautiful and abandoned places, including a town in the USA, Mayan ruins, a Spanish Village, a hotel in Italy, and Australia’s Stonehenge.

Here’s hoping the techno share links don’t fail for some reason?

Take care,
settle into your favorite chair,
Come over to G+ and say hi in the comments. AshlynBradyauthor/posts
The link for the collection is here, Armchair Travel

Cheers, 
Ashlyn


Images in this post were sourced from fotofolia.com


Friday 19 February 2016

Book - "Our Little Secret" by Rebecca Raine


Rebecca Raine is back on the blogger with her next book, “Our Little Secret”. It’s getting hot and tangled up here. The blogger is heating up from the story about two erotic guys who want to share their lives with a woman. Only they have to make a move on practical, responsible Julia before she says goodbye.


Here’s the Blurb
Some risks are worth taking.
Julia Hearst is a practical, responsible accountant with no tolerance for salacious thoughts in the workplace. Even if those thoughts, inspired by her two incredibly hot gay employers, are running rampant through her own head. Julia is ready to embark on a new job and leave all these lusty feelings behind.

Long-time lovers, Derek Carrigan and Scott Mason, have always known they were meant to share their lives with a woman. As far as they’re concerned, they found her the day Julia walked in looking for a job. Now she’s leaving, and will no longer be under their employ, it’s time to make their move.

Although shocked by their advances, Julia is seduced by the idea of indulging in a few weeks of sensual adventure before she starts her new job. Then, with the restless side of her satisfied, she has every intention of returning to her safe, predictable life with no one the wiser. It will be their little secret.

Derek and Scott, on the other hand, have their own agenda. Now they have Julia exactly where they want her, they’re not about to let her go.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“Our Little Secret” is available now for the Kindle price of $2.99 US and $3.99 Aus. 
Here's the link, Amazon.com

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Rebecca kindly provided a hot excerpt of the story.

“Are you both hitting on me?”
“You noticed that, did you?” Derek grinned and waggled his eyebrows at her.
“It’s getting kind of hard to ignore,” she replied with a nod.
“I think we’ve ignored it long enough. Don’t you?” Scott said with a quiet chuckle.
“I’m not sure what you mean.” Her eyes scanned the restaurant. There weren’t many people around, and those who were seemed to be oblivious to them. She took a deep breath, trying to force herself to think straight. It was difficult with the two of them still touching her. She felt the warmth of Scott’s palm pressed against hers. The faint tickle of Derek’s fingertips trailing over the curve of her shoulder. “What exactly is it you want from me?”
“We just want you, Julia,” Derek replied. He removed his hand from her arm and sat back in his seat, though his eyes continued to run over her in a warm caress. “We’re both attracted to you and we’d like to get to know you better.”
She was speechless for a long moment as she tried to reconcile everything she knew about her world, with the words that had just come out of Derek’s mouth. She failed. This didn’t make any sense at all.
“But you’re gay,” she blurted, then slapped her free hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out like that, but... well, you are.”
Derek shrugged, unconcerned by her faux pas. “People get so hung up on labels. Why do I have to declare myself as gay, or straight, or bi? I prefer to think of myself as open to the possibilities.” He said it with such an air of mischievous delight she couldn’t help but smile.
“Why now though?” She remembered all the times she and Derek had eaten lunch together at work. There’d been no sign of this attraction to her back then. They hadn’t even indulged in any illicit flirting, though there were times when she’d wished they had. “We’ve been working together for a year and you never—”
“That was the problem,” he pointed out. “You were working for us. It would have been inappropriate to tell you we want to strip you naked and suck on your nipples during a business meeting. Wouldn’t you agree?” His tone was so matter-of-fact it took a moment for the sexually explicit words to register. He had really just said that.
Indignation warred with a baffled sort of arousal as she stammered, “What on Earth makes you think I’d be open to such a proposal?”
“Come on, Julia,” Scott said from behind her. “You’ve been dying to get those long ladylike fingers all over Derek since the first time you laid eyes on him.”
She narrowed her eyes as her head whipped around to face Scott. “How dare you?”
“Do you deny it?” The words were nothing short of a challenge, daring her to admit the truth.
She clamped her mouth shut, knowing all the blustering in the world wouldn’t stop any sort of denial from being a big, fat lie.
Scott seemed to take her refusal to answer as an acknowledgement, because the next words out of his mouth were, “The question is, how do those fingers feel about me?”
Her jaw dropped at his audacity. “How do I feel?” she screeched in a stage whisper. Conscious they were still in a public place, she cast a quick glance around the room before continuing in a low tone. “You’re the one who glares at me every time I walk into a room. I guess that tells me how you feel about me having the hots for your boyfriend.”
Scott smiled again and her stomach fell through the floor. God damn, he was beautiful.
“You admit it then,” he said. “You want Derek.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, all right, I admit it. You can hardly blame me. I mean look at him.” She gestured toward Derek, who seemed to be enjoying their argument.
“You don’t have to convince me, sweetheart.” He lifted his left arm, placing it behind her shoulders, along the back of the booth. Capturing her gaze, he refused to let her look away as he spoke. “I have memorised every inch of Derek’s body a hundred times over. I know where to touch him to make him moan. I know where to lick to make him shiver and I know just how hard to push to make him beg.” He paused for a moment, before adding, “Now I want to know all those things and more... about you.”


♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

About “Our Little Secret” from Rebecca
The idea for Our Little Secret came to me when a publisher put out a Call for Submissions for an anthology of ménage stories. I was working on other books at the time and completely missed the deadline, but the story of Julia, Derek and Scott just wouldn’t leave me alone. As soon as I had the opportunity I began to write and that initial draft flowed out of me in an effortless way I’d never experienced before. It was so much fun! I fell hopelessly in love with the characters and I hope you do too.


About Rebecca Raine
Rebecca is a long-time lover of all things romance. Whether it’s a book, movie, or real-life, she will always have more fun if there’s a love interest thrown into the mix. She lives in Queensland, Australia with her very own hero husband, two adorable children and one big, black dog. Other than reading and writing books, her favourite things include loud music, enjoying a glass of wine on the patio, organising everything in existence, and spending too much time on the Internet.


Connect with Rebecca
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/rainewriter




I blogged about Rebecca’s first paranormal book, “Splinter” on the 1 December 2015. If you’re interested in another read, here’s the link,


Have a good week.
Cheers, 
Ashlyn




Friday 12 February 2016

Say, "I love you" in so many words.

Q: How to do you tell someone you love them?
A: In your own special way.

What if…
you can’t find the right words to voice your romantic feelings.
Then, you’re not alone.
You’re in good company.

The celebration and the expression of love have roused the emotions and creativity of poets, story-tellers, musicians and artists for centuries.

During this last week I have been searching for words of inspiration about love and romance to share. 
I found some romantic sentiment in modern writing by mostly unknown authors.
There was Dorothy Parker, an American writer made in her own mold.
The vaults of literature were opened to reveal the penned verses of Lord Bryon and The Bard – William Shakespeare.

Here comes the poets…
Say, “I love you” in so many words.

MODERN MUSINGS

A single flow'r he sent me, since we met
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted pure, 
with scented dew still wet
One perfect rose.
- by Dorothy Parker

Plenty of Love
Tons of kisses
Hope some day
To be your Mrs.
- by Author Unknown



My love is like a cabbage
Divided into two
The leaves I give to others
The heart I give to you.
- by Author Unknown

Valentines is near
Just wishing you were here
You will always be near
My heart will never be the same
- by Jose Villalpando



I was lonely, sad, and blue
until the day that I meet you.
You came into my life and changed it around
turned my frown upside down.
- by Author Unknown

The 5 poems were sourced from Huffingtonpost

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

AMERICAN POET - DOROTHY PARKER (1893 – 1967)


Dorothy was supposedly known for her sharp wit and low opinion of romantic relationships. Wikipedia describes her as a poet, short story writer, critic, and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.

However, in the last line of her poem, “Autumn Valentine”, you could think Dorothy was saying there is a way to recover from a wounded heart. “What heart was that?” she writes as if the wounded heart from the month of May can suppress pain or have some amnesia from trauma by November.

Is it a rare person who’s never had their heart wounded?
Dorothy offers a different type of inspiration for Valentines.
The broken heart that can love again…


Autumn Valentine 

In May my heart was breaking-
Oh, wide the wound, and deep!
And bitter it beat at waking,
And sore it split in sleep.

And when it came November,
I sought my heart, and sighed,
"Poor thing, do you remember?"
"What heart was that?" it cried.
- by Dorothy Parker

source: Poemhunter

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

THE LORD AND THE BARD

From the vaults of literature…


Lord Byron (1788-1824)

She Walks in Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.



William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

The 2 poems were sourced from Telegraph UK

May the words of love come to you,
each and every day.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 
 Ashlyn 


Images were sourced from Fotofolia.com and Dreamstime.

Friday 5 February 2016

February - A Month of Romance

We live in fast changing times.
Romance is not what it used to be.
Personal relationships are changing too.

Remember the marriage market from Jane Austen’s regency world?

Or a woman regarded as part of the household goods and chattels by her Victorian Age husband.

The vintage housewife from the 1950’s was supposed to be happy with her shiny new electrical appliances that lightened the load of her chores. The whizzy gigs like vacuum cleaners, refrigerators and washing machines gave her more time to attend to her bread-winner husband’s and family’s needs.

So what about today?
What’s the state of romance and relationships in the modern world?
That’s too big a question for me to ever answer.

The western culture or society that has evolved over the last couple of centuries is now being challenged and defended, is crumbling and being shored up.
Awareness of the narrow definitions of beauty, sexuality, romance, relationships and love is growing all over the world.

It seems many people are searching for companions and special moments of intimacy and love. 

If you can’t get the real connections, you can always pick up a romance book…
There’s a banquet of stories out there to entertain and inspire until you meet your heart’s desire.

All things are possible.
With an open heart, nothing is impossible.

Dream…a lovely dream.
Then you’ll start your morning with a smile.
Brimming with positive energy, who knows what will happen next?

For the month of February, I will be posting about courtship, romance and love here on the blogger and lots more on Google +
I’m just a little bit excited… very thrilled about the upcoming posts on music, art and books.
I’m going to tango out of here.

Until next time,
share the love.
You are precious,
to the people who love you.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 
Ashlyn


Images sourced from fotofolia.com